Wow... I didn't expect to be able to write this one up so soon. It's more reminiscent of Chapter 3 than any of the others. I'll let you figure out why. Enjoy! :D - CN
Disclaimer- I don't own any of the Sonic characters, nor anything relating to them.
Chapter 7
The night before the restaurant opening
This is it... Sonic thought as he walked as silently as possible through the dark streets of Empire City, keeping to the back alleys. However, he wasn't out on the streets to fill his vials, as to his annoyance the proposed curfew was apparently still in effect. He'd heard on the news that the residents are feeling more hopeful because the killer 'hasn't caught anyone' while it has been going on, which could go both ways. One, it could mean that the Mobians might start coming out at night again so he could finally restock on blood, or two, this will encourage them to stay put even longer in the hope that the murderer would finally move on. Rolling his fake green eyes and then regretting it, for the contacts he'd put in hurt when he strained his eyes too much, the hedgehog desperately hoped that the former would come true.
In his hand, he held a small, torn map that he'd ripped out of the newspaper that showed where the restaurant was, for tonight he was going to finally try to sort out the fake job problem. At least for the time being- if Amy was going to try and start more conversations with him it would get harder and harder to hide the truth... His plan was a little reckless, but because he couldn't phone the company yet and he had to be there for opening night he'd have to go through with it anyway. For it to work, as ridiculous as this had sounded in his head at first, Sonic needed to leave it until the last possible second.
Doing small pointing gestures as he turned onto the different streets, Sonic was relieved to see that the restaurant owners had stapled posters to the telegraph poles which advertised it and gave another basic map of the area. The vampire was never renowned for his map-reading skills, and fumbled with it in his hands as he walked. Whew, now I definitely won't get lost! At least these ones are always the right way up! Despite learning this, he didn't put his map back into his trouser pocket because he needed it for another reason, after he'd actually found the restaurant.
After a few more minutes of moving his tired eyes rested upon what he'd been looking for at the other end of the road. He'd gone around the long way purposely so he could put the second part of his plan into action. Sonic smirked to himself because of his success. He read in the window, Le Tre Volpi... The finest in Italian cuisine, ready to be sampled for the first time under our new roof tomorrow- Hang on, that doesn't make any sense... The hedgehog interrupted his own thoughts, If it's all gonna be available tomorrow, why couldn't they just give out the phone number so people can reserve places? The queue's gonna be humongous now! Surely they've planned it a bit better than advertised, right? He put a hand on his chin, I guess I'll find out what they really mean soon anyway... But not soon enough! By the time I do that, it'll be too late!
Sighing, Sonic pinched the bridge of his nose. Back on task, Sonic... Looking further into the window, he saw that there was a lot of empty space, and no Mobians at all. Most of the tables and chairs haven't been delivered yet... I guess it'd take a long time to do considering how big this place is. Perfect!
He suspected that. Sonic recalled a brief blur of the then still empty place on his way to the park a couple of nights beforehand, but thought that he must have brushed it aside at the time, not considering it relevant until after he met... Her... Shaking his head, the hedgehog carefully trod his way along the side of the building, through the newly-made car park. The hedgehog was getting increasingly paranoid and kept looking over his shoulder every few seconds despite the fact that he was wearing his contacts. If anything, Sonic was making himself look more suspicious... Once he'd reached the next corner of the building he quickly peered around it for a few milliseconds to check if anybody was there, and thankfully for him there wasn't. Making one last sprint towards the spot that he thought he would stay hidden the best in, behind some bushes, the hedgehog crouched down and finally put his map away. Sonic caught the time by looking at a neon sign that was a few shops down. 12:30 AM. He mumbled to himself, "And now we wait..."
At around 1AM, Sonic noticed that the ground was rumbling slightly. Huh? His confusion was short-lived, though, as a heavy-duty delivery truck followed his path around the side of the restaurant before stopping at the back entrance. Maybe that memory subconsciously made me decide to come here... Like I knew they hadn't finished adding everything in 'cause I'd seen it. Nodding slowly to himself, it was time for him to begin the third, and definitely the hardest, stage of his plan.
The vampire's more acute hearing helped him to hear the two Mobians inside the truck's conversation completely clearly, despite the distance between them. There was the sound of the truck unlocking followed by a loud yawn before the Mobian , a male hawk, groaned, "...What the hell were they thinking, sending us here at this time of night? They should've at least told us how long it'd take to get here before they sent us off! All the way from goddamn Emerald Coast with 30 tables, 50 chairs and their new keys! Why'd they have to change the locks? I'm definitely gonna give the boss something to think about when we get back. You in?"
His blue eyes glanced over at the other Mobian, a male albatross, who half-heartedly responded, "I don't think so, Jet. Do you know how busy this place gets during the daytime? The whole place comes to a standstill... I'd rather come here at night with no traffic than in the daytime with..."
This time, it was the albatross who yawned, cutting himself off. Jet threw his arms in the air, "See, Storm? You can't stop yawning either! Who was right? And a freaking route-planner would've been nice, too..." He held a hand to his head out of frustration.
While all of that commotion was going on, Sonic had taken his clothes off, and his contacts out to avoid being detected by the rear-view mirrors and slowly crept next to the truck. If you pull this off... He told himself, not even finishing that due to how concentrated he was on his goal. Somehow, he was going to try and get to the two inside the truck and make them fall unconscious. The vampire already knew how to do the latter, as his mentor had taught him all those years ago about pressure points. He had used the technique so often over the years that it had become second nature to him. Just thinking about that again made his mentor's cold voice echo through his head, If you want to survive, Sonic, you'll need to perfect this. Although at this point your performance isn't promising...
He shuddered at the memory. Sonic realised that he'd reached the truck door already, taking a moment to prepare himself. Taking as silent a deep breath as he could, he climbed up the tall door and reached inside the open window. His trembling hand pushed a thumb hard into the back of Storm's head, causing the albatross to slump forwards in his seat. Predictably, Jet started complaining again after another yawn, "Really, Storm? You just had to fall asleep now, didn't you? I don't know how we're gonna make it through the night..."
Sonic ran around the truck as fast as he could and did the exact same thing to the hawk on the other side, smirking as he, too, collapsed. The hedgehog thought, That'll keep you quiet for a while... Right, stage four! His arm had immediately stopped shaking as he opened the truck door, his confidence coming back to him in spades. The vampire instantly began searching for the keys to the building somewhere on the dashboard that the hawk had been talking about, thankful that he wouldn't have to physically break in because Sonic was certain that the alarm system had probably been already set up.
However, his search seemed to turn up nothing. What? The hedgehog could feel the panicky emotion coming back, I don't wanna have to search the whole of the shipping compartment, too! Sonic soon resorted to opening all of the compartments, scanning everything until... Yes! His fingers gripped around the keys, labelled 'Le Tre Volpi', and Sonic became relaxed once again. He was about to close the door, and then remembered that it would have to be left in the state that he found it, and so the hedgehog spent a couple of more minutes clearing up before finally exiting the vehicle.
Dropping down onto the floor again Sonic put all of his clothes back on, including the contacts, and walked up to the back door of the restaurant. As he opened the door, he sighed in relief when no alarm bells rang. The inside of it was incredibly dark with only a couple of dim lights on the ceiling and an emergency exit sign on top of the door he had just been through. This didn't matter at all to Sonic because his vampiric vision came in very handy in this situation. How those guys would've been able to see in here I do not know...The hedgehog thought, making his way through to near the front entrance, where the reception would be in any such restaurant.
The reception was smaller than he expected; just a table and a very hi-tech-looking computer. Sonic assumed that the majority of the stuff that was supposed to go here was in the back of the truck. After fiddling with the lock on his own briefcase, he placed it on the table and took out a small yellow memory stick- containing, to him, the best hacking tool that anyone could want.
"Thanks, Tails, for making and teaching me how to use this..." Sonic murmured sadly, reminiscing for a moment before starting the computer up.
A password entry screen popped up, to which Sonic replied to by putting the memory stick into the computer and immediately bypassed it completely, taking Sonic straight to the homepage. Clicking on the file named 'Reservations', 'They must have already set this up in their old building...', and bypassing another admin code, his eyes widened as he saw a long list of names flow before him. He was confused for a moment before the obvious came to him. Ohhhh... How could I have been so stupid? They just took in reservations at their old place before they moved in here! Sonic slapped his forehead, and a crafty smile soon started to form on his face, made to look almost scary by the lack of light anywhere around him save for the brightest hitting it from the computer screen. Now, to add a couple of names to the list...
He then noticed a blank row. A free table! Sonic typed in his own fake and deliberately ambiguous name, 'Sonic the Hedgehog'. Staring at it proudly for a couple of seconds, not quite believing that he had made it this far, the vampire then remembered that he still had another name to add in. With some hesitation, which was weird for him, he slowly entered 'Amy Rose' under the same table number. Now in some sort of trance, Sonic saved, exited and powered down the computer in quick succession and nearly forgot to take out the memory stick afterwards.
An unexpected feeling of euphoria overcame him as he nearly shouted, knowing that no-one would be able to hear him, "Yes! I actually did it!" He punched the air, "I'm going to the restaurant with Amy R-" He cut himself off as a very slight blush formed on his face. "Damnit, Amy... I've only met you once before! Why am I doing this?"
He sighed, but couldn't deny that he enjoyed the feeling. The hedgehog picked up his briefcase and ran back outside, locking the door behind him and after putting the keys back in the same storage compartment, continued on his way back to the clothes shop with a wild grin on his face. As he rounded the corner and began to run away from the restaurant, he could hear Storm faintly saying, "I guess I was more tired than I thought... Hey Jet, what are you doin' sleepin' like that?"
Did you like it? Feel free to leave feedback via review or PM if you did. Thanks again to everyone who's followed, favourited and reviewed this! Your feedback helps me to make this fic better, especially constructive criticism. As a side note, who do you think Sonic's mentor is? More will be revealed in the future... See you next update! - CN
